Window guard



June 10, 1930. 0. SCHAUMAN ET AL 1,762,424

WINDOW GUARD Filed Dec. 15, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 X, INVENTORS BY mATTORNEYS June 10, 1930.

K. O. SCHAUMAN ET AL WINDOW GUARD Filed Dec. 15, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2/Z INVENTQRS WOYZW 9 I BY ATTORNEYS Patented June 10, 1930 UNEEED STATESPATENT OFFICE KARL OSIEN SCHAUMAN AND LUCY MARION SCHAUMAN, OF NEW YORK,N. Y. SAID KARL GSTEN SOHAUMAN ASSIGNOR TO SAID LUCY MARIOH SCHAUMANwrnnow GUARD Application filed December 15, 1928. Serial No. 326,268.

This invention relates to safety devices for windows and moreparticularly to an improved window guard construction.

It is well known that it is not feasible to protect all windowswithheavy iron bars or the like but it is also true that many accidents arecaused as the result of windows being left open with nothing to guardthe opening. It

is an object of this invention to provide a simple and inexpensivewindow guard suitable for insuring adaquate safety without the necessityof employing unsightly bars which in addition to being undesirable inappearance may constitute a serious fire hazard and prevent necessaryaccess to the windows. More particularly, it is an object of thisinvention to provide a window guard which is entirely invisible exceptwhenthe window is 7 open. In other words our improved window guard 1s inevidence only when it is serving its useful function of protecting theopening.

formed by raising the window.

Our improved window guard is automati- 11 cally extensible and thereforeadapted to accommodate any sized opening determined by the height towhich the window is raised. In general our improved window guardcomprises a plurality of lengths of cable, or other flexible material,connected to the window casing and to the window sash, these connectionsbeing made in such a way as to permit the window to be raised in theusual manner and the act of raising the window causes the cable membersto be stretched across the opening covering the entire area of theopening regardless of the height to which the window is raised.

For purposes of economy the improved window guard can be made out of asingle piece of cable,.or similar material, fastened to the window frameand cooperating with a plurality of guide rollers, or the like, carriedby the window sash. lVhat may be regarded as a tension member isanchored to some fixed support, such as the window frame, and

serves to keep the cable members taut at all times, regardless of theposition of the window sash with respect to the frame. we prefer toprovide a suitable casing for the guide rollers, which serves thepurpose of concealing these rollers and also entirely concealing thecable when the window is closed. This casing may be detachably securedto the window sash and the above mentioned tension member may bereleasable so as to permit the window guard to be temporarily removedfrom the window sash whenever it is necessary to gain access to theoutside of the building, or to the exterior of the window, as for thepurpose of washing the same.

The various objects and advantages of our invention will be moreapparent upon considering the following detailed description which is tobe taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1is an elevation of a window provided with one embodiment of ourinvention;

F ig. 2 is an enlarged vertical section view taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1showing details of construction Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical sectionview taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 1, certain parts be ing displaced for thepurpose of illustrating details of construction;

1*ig. 4 is an enlarged section view taken on line 4- 1 of Fig. 1 showingdetails of construction Fig. 5 is an enlarged elevation of a portion ofthe device shown in Fig. 1, parts being re moved for purposes ofillustration;

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the mode of operation of theembodiment of our invention illustrated in Fig. 1

Figs. 7 8 and 9 are perspective views of portions of the deviceillustrated in Fig. 1.

Referring to the accompanying drawing and particularly to Fig. 1, wehave illustrated a window frame at 1 having a window sill 2 andaccommodating a lower window sash 3 and an upper sash 1. The windowframe and in fact the entire construction of the window may be standardthroughout for it is not necessary to modify the construction of thewindow in any way in order to utilize the present invention, although ofcourse certain parts of the invention may be built into the windowstructure if desired.

At 5 in Figures 1, 2 and 7 we have illustrated a metal strip in the formof a channel which may be secured to the window sill in any suitablemanner. This metal strip is provided with a plurality of holes 6 atintervals along the strip and adapted to receive a flexible guard member7 which may consist of Wire, cable, or the like. One end of the cablemember 7 may be fastened near one end of the Window sill, as shown at 8,and the other end may be fastened near the other end of the window sill,as illustrated at 9.

The Window sash 3 carries a plurality of guide members cooperating withthe cable member 7. These guide members 10 are preferably, though notnecessarily, in the form of rollers, such as that illustrated in detailin Fig. 2 and they may be either attached to the sash directly, orcarried in a suitable housing, such as that illustrated at 11. Thishousing is preferably in the form of a channel member extending alongthe window sash and secured thereto by any suitable means. The housing11 may be detachably secured to the window sash, as by providing aplurality of bayonet slots, such as that shown at 12 in Figures 3 and 8,cooperating with corresponding projections 13 secured to the windowsash.

Located at a point substantially level with the lower edge of the windowsash when the window sash is raised to its highest position, is atension member 14, a suitable form of which is best illustrated in Fig.5. This embodiment of the tension member coinprises a roller 15 carriedon a lever arm 16 hinged to a suitable support 17 attached to the windowcasing and normally locked in its uppermost position by anysuitablelocking means, such as the ring 18, which is adapted to slipover the end of the lever member 16.

The cable member 7, above described, is adapted to pass over the guidemembers 10 and along sections of the metal strip 5 to form a pluralityof cable lengths covering the opening formed by raising the window sash.'By referring to Fig. 1 it will be noted that from the fastened end 8 ofthe cable member, this member extends over the guide roller 10*, thenalong the channel formed by the housing 11 under a guide roller 10located at the end of this housing, then up along the window frame tothe tension member 14. This much of the device is illustrateddiagrammatically in Fig. 6 in which the horizontal center linerepresents the window sash carrying the guide member 10 10 and 10. Byreferring to this Fig. 6 it will be understood that as the window sashis raised, the vertical length of the cable member below the sashbecomes longer and the vertical length of the cable member above thewindow sash becomes shorter, these changes being exactly equal andtherefore completely compensating each other. hen the window sashoccupies its lowest position the major portion of the cable memberextends along the side of the window frame substantially in alignmentwith the tension member 14, whereas, with the window sash in itsuppermost position the major portion of the cable member extends betweenthe sash and the window sill across the opening formed by raising thewindow.

Referring again to Fig. 1 and bearing in mind the previous descriptionof the cable member extending up to the cable member 14, it will benoted that the cable member then extends down under guide member 11,over guide member 10, along the channel formed by housing 11 to theguide member shown at 10". From the guide member 10 the cable extendsdown through one of the'openings in the metal strip 5 and along thechannel formed in this strip to the adjacent opening in the same, andthen up and around the guide member 10, back through the channel inhousing 11, under guide member 10 and back up to the tension member 14:-In similar manner the cable member may be threaded around the otherguide members and through the other openings in the metal strip 5 toform a plurality of cable lengths extending between the window sash andthe window sill, as illustrated in Fig. 1 and it will be understood thatthe operation of the device with respect to all of the cable lengths isjust the same as that previously described in connection with Fig. 6.The several cable lengths can be formed out of separate pieces offlexible cable, or the like, or they may conveniently consist of asingle piece of cable fastened at the two ends, as illustrated at 8 and9, the cable lengths being formed out of loops in the single piece ofcable.

From the above description it will be understood that when the windowsash is in its lowered position the major portion of the cable memberextends up along the side of the window frame to the tension member,whereas, when the window is raised the cable members are stretchedacross the opening formed by raising the sash. When the window is closedthe cable members are concealed by the housing 11 and the cable lengthsextending up alon the side of the window frame may be concealed by anysuitable means, such as the cover plate 19 attached in any suitablemanner to the window frame.

W'henever it is necessary to remove the window guard the tension member1 1 may be released by merely raising the locking ring 18 and allowingthe lever arm 16 to drop into its lowered position, as indicated indotted lines in Fig. 5. This releases the tension in the cable memberand permits ready removal of the housing 11 from the window sash.

It is to be understood that our invention is 'not limited to the detailsof construction of the particular embodiment illustrated in theaccompanying drawing but includes all embodiments of the inventioncoming within the scope of the appended claims. For example, while wehave illustrated the inven tion as applied to the lower window sash, yetit is equally applicable to the upper sash in which event the cablemember would be secured to the upper portion of the window frame,instead of to the window sill, as illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings.

WVe claim:

l. The combination of a window frame having a sill, a window sashfitting in said frame and movable away from said sill, and an extensibleguard connected to said sill and to said sash, said guard comprising aflexible member connected to one side of the window frame.

2. The combination of a window frame having a sill, a window sashfitting in said frame and movable away from said sill, guide memberscarried by said sash, a flexible member connected to said sill andpassing over said guide members, and means for maintaining said flexiblemember taut.

8. The combination of a window frame having a sill, a window sashfitting in said frame and movable away from said sill, guide memberscarried by saidsash, a flexible member connected to said sill andpassing over said guide members, means secured to said frame formaintaining said flexible member taut.

4. The combination of a window frame having a sill, a window sashfitting in said frame and movable away from said sill, a pair of guiderollers carried by said sash, a tension member carried by said frame,and

cable connected to said sill and passing over one of said guide rollersand under the other guide roller to said tension member.

5. The combination of a window frame having a sill, a window sashfitting in said frame and movable away from said sill, a plurality ofguide members carried by said sill and a plurality of cable lengthsconnected to said sill and to one side of said frame and passing aroundsaid guide members whereby the several cable lengths are caused toextend across the opening formed by raising the window sash.

6. The combination of a window frame having a sill, a window sashfitting in said frame and movable away from said sill, a tension membercarried by said frame, a housing carried by the window sash, a pluralityof guide rollers mounted in said housing, and a plurality of cablelengths secured to the window sill and passing around said guide membersto said tension member.

7. The combination of a window frame having a sill, a window sashfitting in said frame and movable away from said sill, a releasabletension member carried by said frame, a detachable housing carried bythe window sash, a plurality of guide rollers mounted in said housing,and a plurality of cable lengths secured to the window sill and passingaround said guide members to said tension member.

8. The combination of a window frame having a sill, a window sashfitting in said frame and movable away from said sill, a metal stripsecured to said sill and having a plurality of spaced apart openingstherein, a releasable tension member secured to said frame at a pointnear the upper limit of travel of the lower portion of said sash, ahousing detachably secured to said sash, a plurality of guide rollers insaid housing, and a flexible cable secured at its ends to the ends ofsaid metal strip and arranged in a series of loops passing over certainof said guide rollers and under one of said rollers and over saidtension member, with portions of said cable passing through the openingsin said metal strip.

In testimony whereof we aflix our signatures.

KARL OSTEN SCHAUMAN. LUCY MARION SCI-IAUMAN.

